Battle Race
From Worms Knowledge Base
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W:A replay: An example of a Battle Race game with KRD and M0rph1umDuck; taken from Worm Olympics |
| Download · Info |
A Battle Race is played on an indestructible map fashioned into an assault course, with a start point and a finish point. Players race their sole worm from start to finish, with the first player to reach the finish point winning the game.
Details
| Game setup |
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| Scheme |
| Battle Race: |
| Map |
| Specially-made map Examples at the WMDB |
| Worms |
| One worm per player. |
With no transport tools available, players must carefully navigate the course only by walking and jumping. Some Battle Race maps contain elements that can be very difficult to pass, requiring exact positioning and precise jumps. They can even require such movement to be pixel-perfect for successful passage. Elements within a Battle Race map are often designed so that missing a jump will result in a fall, setting a player back to an earlier position in the course and requiring the player to re-attempt the element from the beginning. A map's difficulty lies not only in the precision required but also in how severe these setbacks can be.
Weapons are also provided in the Battle Race scheme, though they cannot be used to injure opponents, as worms are invincible. Instead, weapons are used to gain retreat time at the end of a turn or hinder an opponent's progress, by knocking him down from a climb or propelling him along a tunnel. Mines can also be placed to delay an opponent. In some cases, a player will use an explosive to blast his own worm forward if the terrain is suitable. From time to time, weapon crates are spawned on the map, which usually contain explosives like mine or grenade, or baseball bat.
Also, Battle Race is known to be a rather slow game, especially if there are more than 2 players participating. In fact, it is - among some others - one of the longest games played.
Rules
There are no commonly used rules in Battle Race, except that you can not plop your opponent's worm. Failing this rule results in the attacker's default loss. Also, skipwalking is usually not allowed.
Strategies
It is a common strategy to use fire punch or dragon ball to hit back the opponent, as it will cost the player some time - this ranging from a couple of seconds to even several turns, depending on the landscape - to get back the worm to its original location. A setback of this strategy is that it ends the attacking player's turn, so it is mostly used at the end of the turn, if possible, or if it sets back the opponent considerably.
Another common trick is to use the first shot of a shotgun to hit the opponent, and only use the second shot at the end of the turn, giving the player the retreat time as well. Although the shotgun doesn't hit as big as the two mentioned earlier, it is just as useful, as it can be shot from a distance, a feat the other two doesn't share - or at least, not to the same extent.
Mines are usually used to block the path of the opponent, but it is only useful where the latter can't jump over it and walk far enough before the explosion, thus dodging the effect of it. It is mostly used in narrow tunnels, where even if the worm walks back to a safe distance after activating it, still delays the opponent by 5-6 seconds. To counter this, mines can be hit or shot away from the path, or sometimes its blast can be used to move the worm forward.
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W:A replay: An example of mine trick |
| Download · Info |
Also there is a trick, where one drops the mine from a height, and then walks down, landing on the bouncing mine, ultimately not loosing the turn because of falling. Although doing so still ends the player's turn, it is still better, then falling down. Futhermore it is imperative that a wall is present in front of the worm, on which the mine can bounce, thus slowing down so that the worm can lan on it mid-air. This trick requires practice, good timing, and a bit of luck.
Variations
Low Gravity Switch
The players are equipped with infinite low gravity, which can be turned on and off anytime and as many times as the player wants. This variant was introduced during Winter Worm Olympics 2008, where additionally, the players played on separated maps - some of them resembling jetpack race maps -, which ensured that the players won't slow each other down.
